Etymologically
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parentalia

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Forms

parentālia n pl (genitive parentālium); third declension[1][2] Inscriptions have the genitive parentāliōrum.[1][3]

Etymology

It is the neuter plural of parentālis (“of parents”), used as a noun,[1][3] which is from Latin parēns (“parent”) + -ālis.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in his speech for Scaurus, tells how the people of Nora left their town all together to hold the Parentalia.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It was the Roman festival of the family dead, held in February, from the 13th to the 21st;[1][3] Ovid describes its rites in the Fasti.[3] Ausonius used it as the title of a collection of poems.[2] The grammarians teach that it has only a plural,[3] and glossaries explain it as the feast days of the pagans.[3]

In British Medieval Latin, influenced by parentēla (“kinship”), it meant one's kin or family.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions the Parentalia held at Nora.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid describes the festival in the Fasti.[3][6]
  • c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius names a collection of poems after it.[2][6]
  • 1380 – A will in Carlisle leaves wool to the poor of the testator's kin.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The Roman festival of the family dead, held in February.[1][3][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Kin, kinsfolk.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier